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Leading Lawyers Network
Magazine
Consumer Edition
AUGUST 2008
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THE TOP CONSUMER
LAWYERS IN ILLINOIS
Class and Discretion
Miles Beermann: Protecting Families
Tops Tough Divorce Litigator’s Agenda
Keith Hebeisen: Easy Rider
on a Mission for the Injured
Lorna Propes: Tornado of
Energy Leaves a Trail of
Grateful Clients
Tom Breen: A Natural with
People of All Backgrounds
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MILES BEERMANN
Litigating High-End Divorces
with Class and Discretion
by Keith D. Picher
It takes only a moment to notice that
something is a little different at the diversified
law firm of Beermann Swerdlove LLP.
Employees engage in some upbeat banter
behind the front desk in the private waiting
area. The plants, the artwork, the furniture, and
the carpeting blend together particularly well,
creating a relaxed setting. Then Miles N.
Beermann —not an assistant — greets me at
the hallway entrance. Beermann, a fit 73, is in
no hurry. You sense that’s his style.
When we reach his office, he sits at a couch
while I squirm a little in a chair. “Is that pillow
okay,” he asks, “or do you want me to take it
off of there?” He recommends throwing it on
the floor.
“One of my female partners tells me I’ve got
to have pizzazz here,” he laughs. Nothing
distracts us for the rest of the interview except
the chiming of a grandfather clock on the
quarter hour.
Beermann is dressed a little more formally
than usual today. He is headed to the funeral
of Lynne Harvey, the woman Paul Harvey
called “Angel” in life and on his radio show.
“She was a heck of a woman,” Beermann
remembers. When he represented Paul Jr. in
his divorce, both parents were called to the
stand by opposing counsel. Beermann says he
was thrilled to have had lunch every day for a
week with the senior Harvey.
Although Beermann ventures into few details,
he is proud to mention some of the high-profile
clients who have entrusted him with domestic
relations matters. From the sporting world
were Frank Thomas, Michael Jordan, and the
wife of Brian Urlacher. From the arts and
entertainment arena, he represented the wife of
Saul Bellow, Mr. T, “when he had some postdecree problems,” and most recently Bill Murray.
From Chicago politics, Beermann mentions
the wives of William M. Daley and Gery J.
Chico. There are other confidential clients.
“Whenever celebrities or people with high
visibility are involved, I’m always happy when
Miles is on the other side,” says famed
matrimonial lawyer Donald C. Schiller, “because
he always handles cases with class and the
utmost discretion.” Schiller says Beermann is
a tough negotiator who can disagree without
being disagreeable. He considers Beermann
among the state’s very top matrimonial lawyers,
a distinction he says Beermann has held for as
long as he can remember.
“My end of this practice is a difficult one,”
Beermann admits. He says the hallmark of his
success in family law was deciding long ago to
do things a bit differently. “I didn’t always do
this kind of work,” he begins to explain.
Starting Out in Wicker Park
From the outset, Beermann was never
strongly attracted to the law or even pushed that
way by family. “My dad was a lawyer and my
grandfather had a political job that was
tangential to the law,” Beermann says. “I really
didn’t know what to do with myself, so I thought
I’d try law school and see how it worked.”
Beermann’s father, Arthur, a probate lawyer in
a two-man firm, practiced until he was 88.
Beermann Swerdlove’s original partners —
Beermann, Nathan B. Swerdlove, Ralph L.
Stavins, and the late Michael D. Gitlitz —
decided to go into practice together while
studying at DePaul College of Law as
graduation approached in 1958. What exactly
drew Beermann to DePaul escapes him today.
For some reason he had decided to remain in
Chicago. He remembers liking DePaul’s
basketball team, which probably kept him from
seriously considering the school’s mortal enemy
on the courts, Loyola. Beermann graduated
from Senn High School and attended the Navy
Pier campus of the University of Illinois.
The law offices for the four attorneys were
about what they could afford. The building sat
at 1540 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s poor
Wicker Park neighborhood, many decades
before the locale turned fashionable. Nathan B.
Swerdlove’s family ran a sewing machine
business from half of the storefront. The other
half was split into two offices, each of which had
a large desk. The tops of the desks were clear,
Beermann laughs, because they had very little
business early on. If all four of the partners
happened to be in the office — which they
practically never were—they could share desks.
The building was not glamorous. Beermann
says sewing machines were on the floor and
even plugged in so people could try out various
models. Swerdlove’s mother, Bessie, stood
behind a counter and sold needles, machine
oil, material, and other items. A wood stove
provided her with the only heat. The basement
had a dirt floor and the second floor had some
“terrible apartments” with constant commotion.
After practicing for a year and a half, the four
attorneys decided they could not continue to
work without heat. Because they did not want
to give away a $1,500 furnace to the landlord,
they purchased the 25 foot by 75 foot building
for $18,500. Eventually the firm took over the
whole store.
The firm decided to move to the Loop in 1963,
where it has officed at four sites since. No one
wanted to continue using the Milwaukee
Avenue location, so Swerdlove and Beermann
decided to rent it out. After losing a tenant and
having to cope with police activity early in the
morning, they decided to sell it for $46,000.
A few years ago, the firm had a Christmas
party there. The locale had been transformed
into an upscale disco. The building was for
sale for $1.1 million.
From Trial Lawyer to Family Lawyer
Beermann became the firm’s trial lawyer.
Beermann remembers trying a DUI case before
a jury at night in the old traffic court on LaSalle
Street. Occasionally he handled criminal work.
The firm also had some bankruptcies, several
small accident cases, and personal injury and
workers’ compensation matters. Eventually
Beermann found himself in the chancery court
and in federal court.
A partner who eventually left the firm
managed their few divorce cases. When he left,
Beermann experienced his “baptism” in family
law. He represented a woman whose husband
was behind on child support payments. The
judge put him in jail. Usually people in such a
spot would stay behind bars for a night or two
before someone paid the support. This man
remained in jail six months, the maximum
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allowed. “I was afraid he was going to kill me
when he got out,” Beermann chuckles.
By about 1973 Beermann had handled a
number of appeals. His first was a criminal
case before the Illinois Supreme Court, which
was the only court that heard felony appeals at
the time. Before the appellate defender system
was set up, young lawyers were expected to
accept appointments for criminal appeals.
Beermann won that case and about eight
others. His firm was in the habit of choosing
very selectively the cases they would appeal.
Once Beermann gained an appellate
reputation, his work in the divorce field grew.
He began to take appeals for divorce lawyers
such that 80 percent of his appellate work
involved divorces. When a case was
remanded, Beermann would partner in the trial
court with whatever firm referred the appeal to
him. His practice grew even more when his
partner, Jerome Berkson, who was “an old war
horse trial lawyer,” had to take several months
off after open-heart surgery. Swerdlove
handled the partner’s existing clients and
Beermann managed the new cases.
Developing a Consistent Philosophy
Beermann said he developed a little different
philosophy about family law very early on
in his practice. Perhaps he was influenced
by his time practicing in the Milwaukee
Avenue neighborhood.
“There were a lot of aggressive tactics going
on,” he remembers, “where lawyers seemed to
be concerned only with how much money they
could make.” As with many other fields of legal
practice, divorce lawyers usually are paid by
the hour, so the more time they put in, the
more money they make.
“People are angry during divorces, so they
ask you to do things that, if they sat and
reflected, maybe they wouldn’t ask you to do,”
he explains. “So I took seriously what was
going on.”
When Beermann became an active member
of the American Academy of Matrimonial
Lawyers, he realized that one of its goals was
to preserve the family. “That’s also a goal of
the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
Marriage Act,” he adds, “and a lot of people
don’t realize any of this.”
Having done his homework before our
interview, Beermann opens up the academy’s
literature and cites it: “To encourage the study
and improve the practice, elevate the standards
and advance the cause of matrimonial law to
the end that the welfare of the family and society
be preserved.” He displays the letterhead which
reads, “Protecting the family, improving the
practice.” He quotes the start of the Illinois act,
which says one of its purposes is to “strengthen
and preserve the integrity of marriage and
safeguard family relationships and mitigate the
potential harm to spouses and children.”
“This is extremely important to me,”
Beermann explains. He says few people take
it very seriously, but he decided early on that it
was simply the way he would practice. In the
early 1990s, Beermann decided to teach as an
adjunct professor at DePaul College of Law
because he thought it would be a good way to
imbue some new lawyers with his philosophy.
He says he thinks judges also understand
where he’s coming from.
Beermann developed a related philosophy
for the lifestyle of his firm, which stood in stark
contrast to what he knew about life at some
big firms. Although Beermann Swerdlove
today boasts 31 lawyers, the “big” firms such
as Baker & McKenzie had less than half that
many attorneys when Beermann started (and
actually clerked for the old Baker firm).
“I decided, especially when we moved
downtown, that we were each going to have
our own secretary,” Beermann says. “I
remember Swerdlove used to yell at me asking
why we needed all these people.” Beermann
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said he did not want to run a sweatshop and
he thought the quality of life would be better.
Beermann Swerdlove celebrates its 50th
anniversary this year. Beermann believes it is a
major accomplishment for a law firm with such
modest beginnings to last so long. “Even today,
case, and I tried to.”
Bellow had been accused of (and proven
guilty of) fraud in the underlying divorce case
before the first appeal. Bellow had claimed in the
trial court that his income consisted of a dribble
of royalties from the book Herzog and $20,000
In front of the firm’s original law office at 1540 North Milwaukee Avenue in 1959; Ralph Stavins, Nathan
Swerdlove, and Beermann.
when I’m interviewing new lawyers,” Beermann
says, “I tell them they have certain requirements,
but the hours are not astronomical.” He says
keeping a similar philosophy about the wellbeing of the firm’s family that he keeps regarding
his clients’ families helps the firm retain people.
“None of the partners, with the exception of
a couple of junior partners, has ever left,”
Beermann says. “We’ve got clerical people
who have worked here close to 30 years,”
Beermann says, “and our computer person
has been here just about 30 years.”
The Case of Saul Bellow
One of Beermann’s most intriguing cases,
and the one that put him on the map
professionally, was a complex divorce, Bellow
v. Bellow, representing Susan Glassman, the
third of Saul Bellow’s five wives. Although
Beermann and Glassman grew up together, it
was just a coincidence that she became a
client — another lawyer referred the case to
him with several other appeals.
The case took three trials and three appeals
to resolve. Beermann was involved in three
appeals and two of the trials. George S. Feiwell
represented Bellow in two appeals and two
trials. Beermann says he has tried more cases
against Feiwell than any other lawyer. “That’s
his loss and my gain,” jokes Feiwell, who says
Beermann “conducted himself consistent with
the highest canons of the profession in the
per year from the University of Chicago.
In truth, Bellow had already received about
$70,000 in advances for writing his next two
books, one of which was Mr. Sammler’s
Planet. He then made considerable money on
Humboldt’s Gift, which made him world
famous and also earned him the Nobel Prize
in Literature.
After Beermann’s client won the appeal that
threw out the monetary aspects of the
judgment, Beermann argued Glassman was
entitled to interim support because Bellow
effectively owed her some $50,000. Feiwell
appealed the motion, asking the then-trial
judge and former Chief Justice of the Illinois
Supreme Court, Mary Ann McMorrow, to stay
collection of the judgment. He tried to
persuade McMorrow to settle for Bellow’s
signature instead of a cash appeal bond and,
Beermann says, she was agreeing to it.
“Your honor, the last time I looked, Mr.
Bellow puts his pants on just like a street car
conductor,” Beermann remembers arguing,
“one leg at a time.” He reasoned that a bond
should have been set at about $75,000.
McMorrow agreed and set the bond as
Beermann had suggested.
A new judge from downstate Dixon was
appointed to preside at the trial of the financial
issues of the case. After a couple of weeks,
Beermann says, the firm “got her some fairly
fancy money” and a couple of hundred
thousand dollars in fees, which was a
considerable sum back then. The Illinois
Supreme Court eventually reduced the fees.
“I have nothing but the highest regard and
respect for Miles,” says Feiwell today. He
thinks every young lawyer could learn a lot by
meeting Beermann, watching him work, and
benefiting from his integrity.
“When Miles gives me his word I take it to
the bank,” says Feiwell. “He is my friend, and
if he called me at 4:00 in the morning and said
he needed some help, I’d be there in 15 minutes
for him,” he adds.
His Ride to the U.S. Supreme Court
Beermann routinely takes the Metra from
Highland Park into Chicago. He strikes up
conversations with lawyers and many other
professionals. Fred Friedman, a real estate
businessman who frequently rides with
Beermann, has only hearsay knowledge of
Beermann’s professional life, but he knows
plenty about the man.
“Other people extol his accomplishments,”
says Friedman. “I see how he interacts with
others.” Friedman says Beermann often wears
a Cubs cap and jacket onboard, perhaps a
holdover from his youthful days when he lived in
Lakeview and worked as a Wrigley Field vendor.
People on the train appreciate Beermann’s
friendliness, Friedman says, and his outspoken,
though clear and rational, views. “Miles has a
very kind side to him, he is a great listener, and
he is a wise man,” Friedman says.
Nathan Swerdlove and Beermann, May 22, 1958, the
day they were sworn in as lawyers, in front of the
Stephen A. Douglas statue on the Illinois State Capitol
grounds in Springfield.
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The firm’s four original partners in 1987: Nathan Swerdlove, Michael Gitlitz, Ralph Stavins and Beermann.
His “trainside” manner helped Beermann
land a rare United States Supreme Court case
with a family law issue. “I got into Trimble v.
Gordon because a friend — a close friend of
Swerdlove’s named Fred Klinsky — was riding
the train one morning,” Beermann recollects.
After they discussed the case and Klinsky
explained how he happened to find himself
embroiled in the controversy, Beermann
volunteered to relieve him of the burden.
A box of materials showed up on Beermann’s
desk. He filed the required paperwork and
brief. “I found myself preparing in my office
over the Fourth of July weekend when the air
conditioning had been turned off,” Beermann
remembers, “so I started to wonder what I had
gotten myself into.”
The appeal involved the modest estate of a
28-year-old South Sider, Sherman Gordon,
who was murdered. Because he lacked a will,
the Illinois Probate Act said his estate — a car
valued at $2,500 —should be inherited by his
mother. Gordon’s illegitimate child, who
otherwise would have been first in line, was
excluded as an heir by the Illinois statute. The
act allowed illegitimate children to inherit
intestate (without a will) from their mothers, but
not from their fathers.
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services appealed
the Illinois Supreme Court decision. That is how
Klinsky, who represented Gordon’s mother,
surprisingly found himself before the U.S.
Supreme Court. Beermann lost the appeal 54. “I didn’t think the law was constitutional,” he
says, “but I thought I was going to win.”
Beermann today describes the oral argument
as fun. “I listen to it every once in a while
because my son, Jack, sent it to me on a disc for
Father’s Day,” he says. He describes the whole
experience as being larger than life, a high that
it took him some time to come down from.
Beermann says Justice John Paul Stevens,
who voted with the majority, asked the best
questions in oral argument. “When I listen to
the questions today, I’m surprised at how well
I answered,” he says, “because when I was
there, I didn’t think I was really doing that well.”
Practicing what he preaches
Beermann ended up in a family of lawyers.
His brother, Jon, practices in Libertyville, with
his son Marc. Miles’ son, Jack, has taught at
Harvard Law School, Boston University School
of Law, and DePaul College of Law. His
daughter, Barbara Beermann, is a prosecutor
in New York. Jack’s wife, Debbie, is also a
lawyer as is Miles and Jon’s cousin, Peter
Birnbaum, who is the head of Attorney’s Title
and Guaranty Company.
He does not work outrageous hours, but
represented a man with a four-year-old son. In
the middle of the court proceedings, the wife
abducted the child and left the country. The
man’s family was in New York, but he decided to
remain in Chicago because he had a business
in the area and he thought his son would return
someday. He spent a few Thanksgivings and
Passovers with the Beermann family because
he was alone. Fourteen years later, the ex-wife
returned with the son; she had been charged
with child abduction in the intervening years.
When the son came back, he saw his father
very briefly in the criminal courts because
Presiding Judge Paul P. Biebel Jr. had arranged
the rendezvous. “He never wanted anything to
do with his father because he had been
brainwashed,” says Beermann, “and he never
saw him again.” Beermann says the case still
bothers him.
Beermann is well aware of the practical and
emotional difficulties in the domestic relations
world, having been twice divorced. He has
always tried to practice what he preaches,
particularly when it comes to making sure that
child custody is never used as leverage. “You
have to attend special occasions with your
kids,” he says, “so you want to be able to be
in the same room with your former spouse.”
He remembers another client who, in the
early stages of a divorce, told Beermann that
his wife was an excellent mother who deserved
Beermann and Nathan Swerdlove today, 50 years after starting their law firm.
his wife, Helene, sometimes jokingly asks
Beermann well after he arrives home, “When
do you plan to leave the office?”
At times, he has trouble separating himself
from his client’s troubles.
A case in point is when Beermann once
custody. When the opposing lawyer later
asked the husband, an ex-drug user, to submit
to random testing, he changed his tune and
asked Beermann to fight for custody.
“I still remember looking out this window and
saying, ‘I think you need to hire another lawyer,’”
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says Beermann. The man objected, asking
how Beermann could abandon him after
having represented him so well for so long.
“I told him I taught law students and insisted
they never use child custody as leverage,”
says Beermann, “and that to do so now was
against everything I stood for.” Eventually the
man relented. Beermann says the man has
telephoned many times since and thanked
Beermann for not letting him angrily pursue
the tactic.
Beermann obviously values his students’
ideals and thoughts. One of his greatest
professional gratifications occurred when his
law students stood up in 2002 to honor him as
he received the prestigious Samuel S. Berger
Award from the Illinois Chapter of the
American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers for
his contributions to the law profession.
Able to Resolve Contentious Issues
Howard H. Rosenfeld, a matrimonial lawyer
and good friend who teaches with Beermann
at DePaul, says, “He’s a wonderful human
being who never has a bad word to say
about anyone.”
Rosenfeld, who has known Beermann for
more than 25 years, describes him as “kind,
generous, competent, and someone who has
never become jaundiced in the practice of law.”
Their social friendship never interferes with
client relationships, Rosenfeld says. When on
opposing sides of a case, they make their
friendship known immediately so any clients
who are uncomfortable can look elsewhere.
Beermann has maintained his equilibrium
and a very pleasant demeanor in the face of
tough situations on a daily basis, Rosenfeld
adds. That does not mean the two never
disagree. Being a family law attorney is a very
contentious work that sometimes goes
beyond the courtroom. “We’ve always been
able to limit it,” Rosenfeld says, explaining that
in all the cases they have had against each
other, only one has gone to trial.
“That says something,” Rosenfeld adds. The
two competing lawyers, at the very top of their
profession, have thus been able to maintain
their relationship while at the same time
serving the very best interests of their clients.
Beermann has no thoughts of retiring. His
goal now is to help see to it that the firm is
perpetuated. “My relationship with former clients
and students has really been rewarding,” he
says, “and it’s hard to imagine not being in the
office on a regular basis.” Continuing to
interact with his partners and associates — as
well as with the great people who make up
his office family — will forever be a priority,
he says. ■
This article originally appeared in Leading Lawyers Network Magazine—Consumer Edition for 2008 and has been reprinted with permission. © 2008 Law Bulletin Publishing Co.